The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of biochar on the diversity of bacteria and fungi in the rice root zone and to reveal the changes in soil microbial community structure in the root zone after biochar application to provide a scientific basis for the improvement of albic soil. Rice and corn stalk biochar were mixed with albic soil in a pot experiment. Soil samples were collected at the rice maturity stage, soil nutrients were determined, and genomic DNA was extracted. The library was established using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. The abundance, diversity index, and community structure of the soil bacterial 16SrRNA gene V3 + V4 region and the fungal internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS1) region were analyzed using Illumina second-generation high-throughput sequencing technology on the MiSeq platform with related bioinformatics. The results revealed that the biochar increased the soil nutrient content of albic soil. The bacteria ACE indexes of treatments of rice straw biochar (SD) and corn straw biochar (SY) were increased by 3.10% and 2.06%, respectively, and the fungi ACE and Chao indices of SD were increased by 7.86% and 14.16%, respectively, compared to conventional control treatment with no biochar (SBCK). The numbers of bacterial and fungal operational taxonomic units (OUT) in SD and SY were increased, respectively, compared to that of SBCK. The relationship between soil bacteria and fungi in the biochar-treated groups was stronger than that in the SBCK. The bacterial and fungal populations were correlated with soil nutrients, which suggested that the impacts of biochar on the soil bacteria and fungi community were indirectly driven by alternation of soil nutrient characteristics. The addition of two types of biochar altered the soil microbial community structure and the effect of rice straw biochar treatment on SD was more pronounced. This study aimed to provide a reference and basic understanding for albic soil improvement by biochar, with good application prospects.

The effects of biochar application on dry direct-seeded rice paddies remains unclear. Therefore, we applied biochar to dry direct-seeded rice paddy fields over 3 consecutive years to assess its effects on soil physicochemical properties and bacterial diversity (conventional fertilization [CK]; biochar + conventional fertilization [BC]). BC increased the content of 0.25–5 mm soil water-stable aggregate particles, but decreased that of <0.25 mm soil water-stable aggregates. At different soil depths, BC significantly reduced sand content and increased silt content. Compared to CK, BC significantly increased the available phosphorus and potassium content of the 0–10 and 10–20 cm soil layers. There were no significant differences in pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, or total potassium content between the treatments at different soil depths. Compared to CK, BC significantly increased soil neutral phosphatase and catalase activities. Furthermore, BC significantly increased bacterial richness, but had no significant effect on bacterial diversity. According to Qualcomm sequencing analysis, BC increased the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, Nitrospirae, Verrucomicrobiae, Blastocatellia_Subgroup_4, and Anaerolineae in soil compared to CK. The soil bacterial genera in BC had stronger interrelationships than those in CK. According to redundancy analysis, organic matter was the main environmental factor influencing bacterial community structure. Overall, biochar could promote soil nutrient conversion in dry direct-seeded rice paddies, improve soil effective nutrient content, change the composition of soil bacterial communities, and increase soil bacterial richness. Applying biochar in dry direct-seeded rice cultivation could help realize low-carbon agriculture.

Direct seeding of rice has emerged as a strategy for sustainable rice (Oryza sativa L.) production because of advantages, such as fewer production links, labor and farmland water-saving, easy mechanization, and high economic benefits. However, few studies have investigated the effects of different organic fertilizers on soil fungal community and rice yield in dry direct-seeded paddy fields. In order to select the best combination of organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizer, field experiments were used to evaluate the role of no fertilizer (F0); CF, conventional NPK fertilizer, OF1, biochar + conventional NPK fertilizer; OF2, seaweed bioorganic fertilizer + conventional NPK fertilizer; OF3, Jishiwang bioorganic fertilizer + conventional NPK fertilizer; and OF4, attapulgite organic fertilizer + conventional NPK fertilizer on microbial structure and diversity and rice yield. Under Jishiwang bioorganic fertilizer + conventional NPK fertilization, the number of fungal OTUs was 365 and ranged from 1 to 9. The Ascomycota relative abundance was increased by 28.25% under Jishiwang bioorganic fertilizer application compared with CF, but the Basidiomycota decreased. Sordariomycetes and Leotiomycetes relative abundances were increased under organic fertilization. The relative abundance of dung saprotrophs, fungal parasites, and leaf saprotrophs was increased under organic fertilizer compared to CF, and animal pathogens decreased, but organic fertilizers also increased plant pathogens. Rice yield was increased under Jishiwang bioorganic fertilizer + conventional NPK fertilizer and was positively correlated with Ascomycota and Sordariomycetes relative abundances. The use of Jishiwang bioorganic fertilizer + conventional NPK fertilizer improves fungal community diversity and rice yield.

We previously explored a panel of adjuvants formulated with pre-fusion RSV-F protein and found that AS02 may be a promising candidate adjuvant for developing RSV-F subunit vaccines with improved immunogenicity and desired immune response type. In this study, we performed a head-to-head comparison of the effect of intramuscular injection to that of subcutaneous injection on the immune response and protective efficacy of recombinant RSV-F subunit vaccine with or without adjuvants (Alhydrogel, squalene-based emulsion adjuvants MF59, AS03, and AS02) in BALB/c mice. After inoculations, antigen-specific antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, antibody subtypes, cytokines, and the persistence of immune response were evaluated. Moreover, challenge tests were also performed to illustrate the possible effect of inoculation routes and adjuvant on virus clearance and histochemistry changes in the lungs of mice. The results indicated that intramuscular inoculation is a more effective and antigen dose-sparing route to enhance the immune response, although subcutaneous inoculation induced faster and stronger IgG antibodies after the initial immunization. Furthermore, adjuvant, but not immunization route, is a more critical factor to affect the humoral/cellular immune response and the immune bias. In addition, adjuvant inoculated via the intramuscular route is safer than that via the subcutaneous route, especially for AS02. This study highlights the importance of the adjuvant and immunization routes in the design and clinical transformation of adjuvanted vaccines. Further investigation is needed to illustrate the mechanism underlying the above difference in both efficiency and safety.

Variants of cancer susceptibility genes other than BRCA1/2 have been proved to be associated with increased risks of breast cancer. This study was performed to investigate the spectrum and prevalence of mutations in 10 cancer susceptibility genes in paired tumor/normal tissues of 292 unselected Chinese breast cancer patients. We performed an analysis of germline and somatic variants in ATM, CDH1, CHEK2, ESR1, GATA3, MAP3K1, MSH2, PALB2, RB1 and STK11 genes by integrating microfluidic PCR‐based target enrichment and next‐generation sequencing technologies. In total, 3 germline and 25 somatic deleterious mutations were found among 27 patients (9.25%), and 17 of them were novel mutations. Most deleterious mutations were prevalent in luminal A invasive breast cancer (P = .014). We also observed 83 variants of uncertain significance (VUS) in 100 patients (34.25%), 23 of which were predicted to be deleterious by in silico prediction programs (MetaSVM and MetaLR). VUS carriers had higher positive rate of lymph node metastasis than non‐carriers (P = .008) and were predominantly present in ER+ tumors (P = .018). Our findings would enhance the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer in Chinese population.

Weedy rice, a wild relative of cultivated rice, is highly stress‐resistant and proliferates in paddy fields. In this study, 353 weedy rice accessions were analyzed to identify salt‐tolerance genes using population evolution analysis, phenotypic screening, genome‐wide association studies (GWAS), transcriptome analysis, haplotype characterization, gene knockout experiments, and Na⁺ and K⁺ ion flux assays. Population structure analysis classified the accessions into six distinct groups. Three salt‐tolerant accessions—HW131, HW136, and HW119—were identified based on leaf rolling degree (LRD), leaf withering degree (LWD), chlorophyll content (ChlC), and nitrogen content (NC) traits. GWAS and transcriptome data pinpointed LOC_Os06g39270 and LOC_Os06g11860 as candidate salt‐tolerance genes. Haplotype analysis and qPCR confirmed two major haplotypes: AHap2 and BHap1. A 2‐bp deletion (TC) at position 818 bp in LOC_Os06g11860 was associated with severe salt sensitivity (phenotypic grade 7), whereas the wild‐type exhibited strong tolerance (grade1). Knockout mutants exhibited significantly increased Na⁺ and K⁺ flux across mesophyll cell membranes compared to wild‐type plants, validating LOC_Os06g11860 (OsERFH1) as a crucial salt‐tolerance gene. This study provides novel genetic insights into salt‐stress adaptation in weedy rice, paving the way for breeding enhanced salt‐tolerant varieties.